Finding pattern trick to winter dove hunts

Catherine Cook of San Antonio watches as large flights of mourning doves stay just out of range near a cattle feed lot in Karnes County. (Ralph Winingham/Special to the Express-News)

By Ralph WininghamSpecial to the Express-News

Record rainfall in September followed by a lingering drought during the fall and winter has left many late-season dove hunters in a hit-or-miss situation.

More challenging than trying to hit birds in the air, the hunters are finding that hitting the right spot at the right time to find the finicky late-season birds can be frustrating.

“People who want to chase the birds and do a lot of legwork can be very successful,” said Corey Mason, dove program leader for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. “There are far fewer hunters who take advantage of late-season dove hunting, so it does present a unique opportunity. If the hunters can find a place that has small native grain and seeds, that is where they will have some activity.”

The late season in all three Texas zones started on Christmas Day and continues through Sunday in the Central and North zones, with Jan. 18 the last day of hunting in the South Zone.

North and Central zone hunters — generally the areas north of Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 90 — normally experience limited late-season dove action, while better sources of food and water that are scattered in the South Zone seem to hold migrating flights a little better.

The trick to hunting success is finding any pattern of the migrating birds and the ones that remain nesting in the area year-round; then being able to get within shotgun range of the darting and diving gray aerial acrobats.

Complicating the effort this year, in addition to the dry conditions, has been daily temperatures bouncing from the mid-70s one day to mid-50s the next. Birds, just like people, change their routine when the temperatures are too hot or too cold.

“On the warm Sunday after opening day, we had 17 hunters in one group and only a couple of them did not get a limit,” said Alan Schwope, a guide with Wilson Whitetail and Wingshooting Ranch near Pearsall.

Suffering through afternoon temperatures in the 70s during a recent South Texas winter hunt, Joe Brophy of San Antonio picks up a mourning dove he took down on a ranch near Pearsall. (Ralph Winingham/Special to the Express-News)

“The next day it was cold and when we went back to the same area, the birds were gone. Even a weak cold front or change in the weather will move the birds out. They can be really hard to pattern.”

Sammy Nooner, owner of the Nooner Ranch at Hondo who has hunting fields in both the Central and South zones, said that during the late season he normally sees more mourning doves fly into his areas that are typically dominated by a massive white-winged dove population in the first season.

“The mourning doves don’t follow any pattern,” Nooner said. “They will fly in from everywhere and may stay around and feed a little longer than the white-wings. If there is any moisture on the seeds on the ground, they will sprout and the birds will leave because they won’t have anything to eat. I also believe the (mourning doves) stay together in groups — maybe 20 to 60 birds in a bunch — to feed more in the winter than they do in September.”

Charlie Thompson of New Braunfels, a veteran hunter who lives in the Central Zone but also hunts in the South Zone, said going south to try to find birds was a good move this year.

“Opening day was decent, but not great here at New Braunfels,” Thompson said. “The next day we didn’t get half a dozen shots.”

Finding good concentrations of mourning doves visiting a field in Karnes County that had been planted in native grasses and made into hay bales, Thompson said the birds seem to favor areas where they can find food and water.

“Because it did not rain, there was no second crop of hay and there are a lot of seeds on the ground,” he said. “The birds are coming in high and pretty fast, but the hunting has been pretty good. The only way it would be better is if I were a better shot. I am doing a lot more shooting than I am hitting.”